Checkup

Published 2:01 pm, Tuesday, October 1, 2013

A preschooler's nap may be an important tool for learning, a new study of 3- to 5-year-olds suggests.

Researchers tested 40 children in the morning by showing them a picture on a card, then flipping the card over and asking the child to remember its location on a grid.

The children then continued their regular program. At around 2 p.m., half the children were encouraged to nap, while the other half were given activities to keep them awake.

The researchers retested the children after nap time, and again the next morning. All the children participated, both as nappers and non-nappers.

When children napped, they scored higher on tests of recall afterward than when they stayed awake for the same time period. Nappers also did better on tests the next day. The findings were published online in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"Children not only need to nap, but should be encouraged to nap," said the senior author, Rebecca M.C. Spencer, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. "Schools are getting pressure to add curriculum and activities, but naps serve an academic function as well. A nap really supports the goals of preschool."

Unequal pain relief in ER

Black and Hispanic children who go to an emergency room with stomach pain are less likely than white children to receive pain medication, a new study reports, and more likely to spend long hours in the emergency room.

The analysis, published in the October issue of Pediatrics, examined the records of 2,298 emergency room visits by people younger than 21, a nationally representative sample from a large survey conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fifty-three percent were white, 24 percent non-Hispanic black, 21 percent Hispanic and the rest from other racial groups.

Overall, 27.1 percent of white children with severe pain received analgesics, but only 15.8 percent of blacks, 18.9 percent of Hispanics and 7.1 percent of children of other races did.

Black children were 68 percent more likely than white children to spend more than six hours in the emergency room, although there were no statistically significant differences among races in results for any diagnostic test.